We all know storytelling works. We are all aware that stories are engaging. They influence people. They inspire and excite. As authors Dan and Chip Heath illustrate in their research, 63 per cent of presentation attendees remember the stories told, while only five per cent remember statistics. Storytelling is critical for you and your organization.
We always seem to be on the hunt for great stories to tell that will focus on or accentuate the point or message we are trying to deliver. We often search for these stories in history or in biographies of famous people, extraordinary performances, amazing activations, great sales, or huge sponsorship wins! Most often, we pull stories from others. We tell their stories. They are often effective and relatable due to who or what the story is about.
That is all well and good, but storytelling told in the first person is even more powerful. Your own stories are more effective. And most importantly, no one knows your stories better than you—the teller of your own story.
When I talk to clients about this, be if for a presentation at a conference, a board room pitch, or a one-on-one discovery session, the client always responds, “But we don’t have any stories to tell.” I say, “Bull!” We all have stories to tell. There was a little festival in Edmonton that did sampling for Listerine and got 10 times its average sponsorship in payment for a sampling opportunity. What’s more, that was a test market for this product, and this was the deciding factor in launching what we today know as Listerine Strips.
There was a charity that had a powerful public speaker on its board. They were able to convince that board member to offer up three speaking gigs a year for three years, which got nine different sponsors on board (each for five years) who received the asset of this public speaker at one of their events once over the five-year term. Those five sponsorships annually tripled the previous total annual sponsorship revenue.
There was a local market humane society that was able to bring on board a top-five Canadian financial institution as a title sponsor of a gala when there was no “pillar” or focus on animals in its areas of support. But by listening and learning, the pet shelter was able to link youth leadership programming (which was a major pillar of the FI) from the organization to the FI’s needs.
Unless you and your organization are living under a rock, you have stories to tell! You just need to dig to find them. Then tell them and see the impact they make for the partner even though the fit may not have been apparent to begin with.
We all have stories we can tell about ourselves and our organizations. So, let’s start using our own stories rather than those of others. They truly are more powerful.
Brent Barootes is president and CEO of Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists, a national coast to coast consultancy assisting sponsorship buyers and sellers to maximize their individual profitable ROI.
